Ash Cooper, an 18-year-old transgender woman formerly known as Joshua Cooper, has been sentenced to spend up to four decades behind bars for the murder of 12-year-old Morgan Connors in Pennsylvania.
Cooper pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and tampering with evidence.
The Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley handed down the sentence of 15 to 40 years in a state correctional facility, marking the end of a tragic chapter in the case.
The sentencing came after Cooper admitted to fatally shooting Morgan and then boasting about the crime in an Instagram video chat, where she even displayed the victim’s body.
During the sentencing hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy read a victim impact statement from Morgan’s grandfather, expressing the profound pain and heartbreak the family endured following her death.
“The human heart is not built for such heartbreak,” he wrote in the letter.
The investigation into Morgan’s murder began on Nov. 25, 2022, when a call was made to the Bensalem Township Police Department reporting a possible homicide at the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park. Authorities learned from a juvenile witness that Cooper had claimed to have committed the crime during an Instagram video chat.
In the chat, Cooper showed the bloody legs and feet of the victim and asked for help in cleaning up the scene.
Law enforcement responded swiftly, locating Cooper at the trailer park. Inside the trailer, Morgan was found dead in the bathroom, with evidence suggesting attempts to clean the crime scene.
It was later revealed that Cooper used a gun owned by her father to commit the murder, accessing it from a safe by replacing the batteries in the combination lock.
The sentencing brings closure to a tragic incident that shocked the community and serves as a reminder of the devastating consequences of violence.
